bloviatrix

It think it says something about the community that was created here. While you many have never actually sat down at table with Sneak, you sat at a virtual table with him for years and had an opportunity to learn about his interests, his opinions, his wines and cocktails, etc. MF has been in it's own way a virtual dinner party for over 20 years.

Caramelized onions and cabbage with sweet Italian sausage. Not the prettiest dish, but full of savory deliciousness.

Was there any one particular bar that Sneak loved? Can I suggest that we figure out a time that we meet and have a toast to his memory? I think it's something he would have appreciated.

This just sucks. He was such a major presence here. I met him only once - a group of us got together before @StephanieL moved west. Coincidentally, I was thinking about him last week and pulled up a file I created based on all the cocktail recipes he included in the "Staying In" email during Covid. I actually sourced kosher absinthe because of him and he definitely was one of the people who encouraged my exploration of craft cocktails. We traded a couple of PMs over the last few months as I would check in to see how he was doing with his treatment. He introduced me to a couple of writers I was previously unfamiliar with I'm grateful for that. I would like to believe the one plus is that he's reunited with his beloved wife. I know that was loss he never recovered from.

Oh god, that's scary. A little too close for comfort.

I just finished watching season 3 of Somebody Somewhere. What a great show. Thank you to whomever it was here who suggested it when season 1 aired. Each season was a gem and it really closed in a wonderful way.

But when it snowed in 2024 it was the first time something like 330+ days. In this case it's been about 16 days.

David Lodge, British Novelist Who Satirized Academic Life, Dies at 89 I discovered Lodge's work quite back accident in the early '90s while perusing the shelves at the Rizzoli in what is now Brookfield Place (I can't remember what it used to be called). The satire in his book Changing Places reminded me a bit of Alison Lurie's academic satires and I was smitten. Over the years I've read more than a handful of his books and enjoyed his work enormously.

On night eight we went traditional. Potato latkes with sour cream and applesauce.

I did not. You were meant to fry spoonfuls of the batter but it was way to liquid-y so I had to toss. Ended up making what ended up looking like very flat pancakes on the griddle.

No photos but tonight I attempted to make cheese latkes. They tasted ok, but they fell apart and weren't easy to flip.

She was so good in that. I also saw her in Diary of Anne Frank. But she'll always be Alice to me.

One of my mom's college friends (who was married to her childhood best friend) served in the Carter administration as Undersecretary of Commerce. He would tell stories about razzing Jordanian officials since his first name was Jordan.

Not sure when we'll have LatkeFest 5785, but the applesauce has been made.

Mazel tov!